Archive for February, 2008

After missing the last two Daring Bakers challenges I completed this one with two whole days to spare (a first for me I think) and once more all eleventy squillion of us are rising to the challenge with bread. Mary and Sara chose Julia Childs French bread to be a little more precise. Julia Child has not had such a deep impact on this side of the Atlantic, as we have Darina and the UK has Delia, but in the States she introduced a whole generation to the art of French Cookery. Continue reading »

Pulse for any of you who haven’t seen it yet, is out now. You can read the PDF edition by clicking here. I’ll post my review of Bourbon on here on Monday too so if you have any comments about the place you can let me know.
Log on to our news sites: irelandclick.com, irelandclick.com and irelandclick.com. Continue reading »

This is going to be my last sauce recipe for a little while. This classic French sauce took it’s name from a small town in the Bugey region, just north-east of Lyon, in France that has been renown for its culinary tradition since the middle-ages.

There is a recipe that can be made in advance and kept in the freezer for months. It come into the making of the classic sauce Nantua. The fresh water crayfish butter can be served with fish or meat. A classic meat/crayfish association is pan fried veal sweetbreads with crayfish tails and a foamy crayfish butter. Continue reading »

I’ve received the first sample spreads for our book from Mercier Press, and it’s beginning to feel real! We’ve even made it onto the “Authors” page of their website (although we look a bit shadowy). With a bit of luck, books should be in all the shops in Ireland by the end of April and available on-line as well…I’m off to Dublin, with my wellies in the bag!Technorati tags: cookbook, ice cream, Irish, publishing. Continue reading »

I picked this recipe up while staying with my lovely Auntie Annie during our recent trip to Florida, and it’s a real discovery! The combination of Basil and sweetcorn works together to create a pretty a really interesting taste and a perfect side dish to grilled meat or chicken. The recipe itself is fairly straight forward but this one is definitely worth trying. Continue reading »

I picked this recipe up while staying with my lovely Auntie Annie during our recent trip to Florida, and it’s a real discovery! The combination of Basil and sweetcorn works together to create a pretty a really interesting taste and a perfect side dish to grilled meat or chicken. The recipe itself is fairly straight forward but this one is definitely worth trying. Continue reading »

Once again, I’ve been very lax in posting. I have been so busy this week trying to get business stuff done, including 400 samples for the blog award goody bags! I hope to be back in full swing on Monday, but just wanted to let you all know that I need to give ELY final numbers on the brunch in the morning. If you’re still in Dublin on the Sunday and up for a lovely brunch, why not come along? Menu is here! Items start at €6.50 with something for everyones taste! Continue reading »

If you’re a tea drinker like me, I’d like to introduce you to my new obsession: Rosehip and Hibiscus Tea. New is a relative term as I’ve known about this sort of tea for quite some time, but it wasn’t until now that I’ve been able to find it in the grocery stores. Continue reading »

I had a very interesting conversation with one of the top TV producers in Ireland a couple of days ago and the general gist of it was that the glut of cookery programmes on television was coming to a tipping point. You can’t switch the TV on these days without some sort of cookery show with practically every format under the sun being rehashed to saturation point. Continue reading »

Thanks to the generous sponsorship of Hosting365, there will be something rather bubbly for the winners at this year’s Irish Blog Awards. I’m just about to start it on its journey to the other side of the Pale (and Interesting, so I’ve heard).

I’ll be introducing some new wines at Urru, Mallow, on Saturday, till the sun goes down, so I don’t think I’ll make it to the ceremony. But I’ll be there in spirit. Continue reading »

(Hyperlinks to follow)
When writing my PhD, which was about consumers of organic food at farmers’ markets, I included a section on how organic food is represented.
The state, -Teagasc, Bord Bia and the Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Food – had a difficult job. Continue reading »

I’m half thinking, for the craic, of going to the blog awards dressed in full ice cream man regalia, including white wellie boots, which I have always wanted to wear in Dublin, and a big floppy Gelato chefs hat. Of course, it would be easier to pull off such a thing with my brother Sean (photo, right), who is fearless but sadly unable to attend. Still, it is tempting. What do you think?

I’m afraid I won’t be able to make the blog awards this Saturday as my sister’s future “hubbie’s” stag is on in Dublin this Friday and Saturday and we have no baby sitter so I’m afraid the italian foodies will be absent:( I would love to have gone as it would be great to meet everybody and put faces to all the Irish food bloggers but I’ll just have to wait until next year!! Continue reading »

There has been much talk lately about the price of organic chicken and the debate on whether or not it’s worth it reigns on. I don’t cook chicken much anymore so when I do, I make sure it’s organic and make the absolute most of it. If you can’t afford to go the whole hog and buy an organic chicken, go half way and buy free-range / farm-fresh. It’s still better than the battery equivalent and the chicken will taste like chicken should. Continue reading »

Ever since I started working full time, lunch has always been a bit of an issue. Now, I do not profess to be the most organised of people, but generally I will make something the night before to have for lunch the following day. However on the days that I do not plan ahead for, I almost always end up being disappointed after forcing myself to substitute a homecooked meal for something from the selection of tired looking foods from O’Briens. Continue reading »

Ever since I started working full time, lunch has always been a bit of an issue. Now, I do not profess to be the most organised of people, but generally I will make something the night before to have for lunch the following day. However on the days that I do not plan ahead for, I almost always end up being disappointed after forcing myself to substitute a homecooked meal for something from the selection of tired looking foods from O’Briens. Continue reading »

It’s a sad state of affairs when two Southern Comforts in the house has you feeling like two elephants are playing a game of squash inside your head. But it is what it is. It got me thinking about what is the best restaurant in Belfast is for a hangover?I’m planning on taking a trip out the weekend after this to review somewhere for my next outing in the Pulse magazine. Continue reading »

A year ago I was sitting in the middle of the Caribbean on a boat with a couple of days to spare as I was waiting for guest to arrive. With bad weather outside and all the DVDs exhausted I thought I would try something practical and use my small picture camera to film a recipe and post it on a blog. Here is the first video and as you can see it is a pretty simplistic affair coupling my own poor editing skills with shoddy camera work! Continue reading »

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This November The Great Irish Bake is back and Kitchen Hero Donal Skehan is helping out with sharing recipes and promoting the event. The Great Irish Bake is in aid of helping sick and seriously ill children get the treatment they need. Head over to The Great Irish Bake to register online and be in the chance of winning a trip to New York when you help raise funds for Temple Street Children’s University Hospital. The site also has hints, tips, recipes and all that goes with an event like this.

This is the Facebook for The Great Irish Bake and of course the Twitter hashtag is: #thegreatirishbake

The Great Irish Bake organisers have shared a recipe with us and also a picture of Donal Skehan with his kids from his first marriage. Some of this might be a lie.

The Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
2. In a standalone mixture beat together the butter and sugar. Add in the egg and
mix through.
3. Using a wooden spoon mix through the flour, baking powder, salt, mixed spice
and vanilla extract until you have a biscuit dough.
4. Turn the dough out on to a floured surface and roll out to about 1cm in thickness.
5. Cut out biscuit shapes, place on the lined baking tray, then using a smaller cutter
or a small knife cut out the center of each cookie.
6. Sprinkle the crushed sweets into the centre of the cookie and place in the oven
7. Cook in the oven for about 15 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before transferring to a wire
wrack.

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